Stop the tuition increases

Invest in California's Future

Published
4:00 am PST, Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Higher education in California is under attack. The assault is coming from years of state budget cuts and public educators imposing hefty fee increases. No points for guessing the losers: current and future students, their bill-paying families, and the state's economy.

It's time to call a stop to tuition raises. The increases have grown from a last-resort answer to weak finances to a nearly automatic feature that's punishing students and derailing otherwise college-bound youth.

The latest instance continues a dismal trend. The University of California - which increased fees by 32 percent last year - will ask its Board of Regents to add on another 8 percent next week. Its sister institution, the California State University System, plans to tack on 15 percent more over two years.

The arguments are familiar and unconvincing: A drop in support from Sacramento makes the rise in fees necessary. More students will be eligible for grants. Tweaks and changes such as extra students from out of state who pay higher fees, pension reforms, and revved-up fundraising should help.

None of this is good enough. The two university systems are moving further from the reach of families with modest incomes. Students of middle-class means who can't tap aid packages now graduate with crushing debts. That hurts the students and the whole community.

Last year's enormous fee increases at UC brought protests, arrests and $370 million more from Sacramento. But this year, UC faces a $1 billion gap, and extra state money isn't assured. Hence, the proposed tuition increases to bridge this gap.

The end result is unjust. Students are handed the problem and told to pay up. Meanwhile, course offerings and campus programs dwindle. Two renowned educational systems are taking it out on 600,000 students.

The two systems have tried to soften the blow. In UC's case, half the undergraduates will not pay any tuition because of Cal Grants and other aid. But the remaining students will still bear the burden of unpredictable growth in fees and mounting debt.

It's time for better answers than an ever-rising tuition bill. California just went through an election season in which candidates extolled public education. Gov.-elect Jerry Brown needs to step in. So does Lt. Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom, who becomes an ex officio member of the governing panels of both systems.

One solution - and it won't be an easy political sell - is higher state payments to both UC and CSU. Taxes are unpopular, but so is the fact that California lacks the educated workforce it will need to power the economy in years to come.